Latest / Cards & Categories / Ep. 129 : Zen And The Art Of Fantasy Baseball With ADHamley

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Ep. 129 : Zen And The Art Of Fantasy Baseball With ADHamley · Cards & Categories

0:17
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome everybody to episode one twenty nine of
0:20
Speaker 1: Cards and Categories. I am my Cool Art, and I
0:23
Speaker 1: am joined this week by A. D. Hamley of Rasball
0:27
Speaker 1: and Baseball HQ also goes by Anthony. So, I mean,
0:31
Speaker 1: I'll refer to you as Anthony and our conversation I think.
0:34
Speaker 1: But you've been on at Rasball doing our Zen and
0:38
Speaker 1: Art of Fantasy Baseball columns. I've been loving them. I
0:40
Speaker 1: figured it'd be great to have you on. So how
0:42
Speaker 1: you doing tonight, buddy.
0:44
Speaker 2: I'm doing really well, really excited to be on the
0:47
Speaker 2: show and get a chance to talk a little baseball
0:50
Speaker 2: in the middle of the night. That's cool.
0:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so we are recording this on
0:55
Speaker 1: February twenty fifth. So we've seen a couple of weeks
0:58
Speaker 1: of spring training action. Have you caught many games anything
1:01
Speaker 1: that's kind of like stood out to you in these
1:03
Speaker 1: first week and a half two ish weeks of baseball
1:07
Speaker 1: that's really Arizona in Florida.
1:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're really frustrating. Part is, I've been working so
1:15
Speaker 2: much at my you know, real job, and so I
1:19
Speaker 2: haven't gotten to watch really any of the spring training baseball.
1:22
Speaker 2: I've been keeping up through a lot of just news
1:27
Speaker 2: just trying to figure out what's going on that way.
1:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has been a da loge certainly, something that
1:33
Speaker 1: Zen could probably help us out with. So I'm glad
1:36
Speaker 1: that you're on to be able to kind of sort
1:38
Speaker 1: through all of the stuff that's going on, because not
1:41
Speaker 1: only do we have this volume of games, but the
1:44
Speaker 1: stat cast data has been pouring in hot and heavy
1:47
Speaker 1: from across the league. Everybody is trying to figure out
1:50
Speaker 1: what what teams are going to do with abs, and
1:53
Speaker 1: there's just a lot kind of going on. We haven't
1:56
Speaker 1: even dipped our toes into that WBC pools that are
2:00
Speaker 1: about to be cast right in your next week, So
2:02
Speaker 1: there are tons of things going on. Lots of drafts too.
2:05
Speaker 1: How many drafts do you have going right now? I
2:07
Speaker 1: think I'm juggling one slow draft, but I've got a
2:11
Speaker 1: couple that you're going to be kicking off here pretty
2:12
Speaker 1: soon as well.
2:16
Speaker 2: I am just currently in n OC, just finished an
2:23
Speaker 2: auction and an OC and then I've done several like
2:28
Speaker 2: the NFBC fifties just to kind of get player pools
2:32
Speaker 2: since and anyway, that's about it.
2:37
Speaker 1: Nice. Well, I mean I should also let you let
2:40
Speaker 1: everybody know where they can reach you on socials. Obviously
2:44
Speaker 1: they can read your work on rasball and Baseball HQ.
2:47
Speaker 1: And if you're listening to this podcast, wherever you're listening
2:50
Speaker 1: to it, there will be the related show notes go
2:53
Speaker 1: down there and you'll be able to get links to
2:55
Speaker 1: Anthony's work down there. But let everybody know where they
2:58
Speaker 1: can also contact you on socials that they want to
3:00
Speaker 1: reach out.
3:01
Speaker 2: The easiest place is at ad Hamley through the Blue
3:06
Speaker 2: Sky out nice all right, I had to lead the
3:10
Speaker 2: Twitter sphere. I just couldn't take it anymore.
3:13
Speaker 1: So you and me both brother, it was it is nice.
3:18
Speaker 1: Like Blue Sky is like such a great like baseball
3:20
Speaker 1: community too that if you're into baseball, fantasy, regular baseball,
3:26
Speaker 1: baseball card collecting all aspects of baseball, honestly, like Blue
3:29
Speaker 1: Sky is the place to be. So if you haven't
3:32
Speaker 1: gotten on there yet, I would highly encourage it because
3:35
Speaker 1: if you're a baseball fan, there's not a better social
3:39
Speaker 1: media experience I think too as well as like you
3:41
Speaker 1: can get connected to beat writers and fantasy writers and
3:45
Speaker 1: podcasters and some of your favorite folks across the landscape
3:49
Speaker 1: pretty quickly, and it's a it's a great environment, so
3:52
Speaker 1: hop on Blue Sky check out some baseball in twenty
3:54
Speaker 1: twenty six. It's going to be a blast.
3:56
Speaker 2: It's actually how I got hired at Rasball, So okay, yes,
4:01
Speaker 2: if that's a motive motivation to get on Blue Sky,
4:04
Speaker 2: A lot of great nerds there and you know my
4:08
Speaker 2: people are there, so yes, I totally agree.
4:11
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, let's get into discussing some of your zen
4:14
Speaker 1: in the Art of Fantasy Baseball columns that you've been
4:17
Speaker 1: writing here over the past month plus as we've been
4:21
Speaker 1: getting right into the kickoff of our twenty twenty six
4:24
Speaker 1: action on ras Ball, where I should also mention that
4:28
Speaker 1: if you're in those show notes, check out those rasp
4:30
Speaker 1: Ball subscriptions, because you're going to get access to those
4:32
Speaker 1: draft war rooms to win those leagues. Here off the bat,
4:36
Speaker 1: it's invaluable. It's helped me in every single Snake draft
4:40
Speaker 1: that I've been in. Rudy nails it with his projections
4:43
Speaker 1: and being able to let you know what's coming and
4:46
Speaker 1: where you should draft. And then if you're on the subscription,
4:49
Speaker 1: not only do you get that war room, but getting
4:51
Speaker 1: into the rest of the season, you get the hitter
4:52
Speaker 1: Tron you get the Streaminator, two of the best tools around.
4:55
Speaker 1: I haven't found anybody in fantasy baseball that has anything
4:58
Speaker 1: bad to say about those too. They are great daily
5:01
Speaker 1: projections help you for limp decisions, especially if you're in
5:04
Speaker 1: a fastest finger pickup league. Can't beat it using those tools.
5:10
Speaker 1: But Zen and the Art of Fantasy Baseball. I've been
5:14
Speaker 1: loving your columns here on Rasball as you've kind of
5:17
Speaker 1: expounded upon some of the virtues of Zen, especially through
5:19
Speaker 1: the lens of Zen and the art and motorcycle maintenance,
5:23
Speaker 1: which actually came up recently in one of like my
5:26
Speaker 1: other kind of social feeds, because if you're a fan
5:29
Speaker 1: of The Pit, apparently Noah Wiley has been basing his
5:32
Speaker 1: character in season two off of lots of tenants he's
5:35
Speaker 1: been reading that book. If you've been watching season two
5:38
Speaker 1: of The Pit, it's going to be motorcycle centric, I
5:41
Speaker 1: think as he rides off so very very rounding it out.
5:45
Speaker 1: But I think this is a great kind of way
5:49
Speaker 1: to introduce some of those principles into a game that
5:52
Speaker 1: we love. And I think what I've really appreciate about
5:54
Speaker 1: your columns is that it gives a little bit different
5:57
Speaker 1: perspective where sometimes I think we can get caught up
6:01
Speaker 1: in the spreadsheets and nuts and bolts of all the
6:03
Speaker 1: numbers that go into fantasy baseball. But there's a lot
6:06
Speaker 1: of just softer skills that I think also go into it.
6:10
Speaker 1: So given all that, Anthony kind of like, what was
6:13
Speaker 1: the genesis of coming up with this column and what
6:17
Speaker 1: you kind of want to use it to not only
6:20
Speaker 1: help your own fantasy performance, but also communicate out to
6:23
Speaker 1: others and help them maybe navigate through their own fantasy leagues.
6:29
Speaker 2: Well, it's a it's kind of a long story in
6:34
Speaker 2: terms of like how I got to that point. One
6:39
Speaker 2: of the one of the advantages that I feel like
6:42
Speaker 2: I have is as an English teacher and you know,
6:47
Speaker 2: written many many things, and so I feel like writing
6:51
Speaker 2: I can do. And and so when I when I
6:55
Speaker 2: have a chance to write, I tend to try to
6:59
Speaker 2: bring out my personality as much as I can, my
7:04
Speaker 2: voice as much as I can. And that seems to
7:08
Speaker 2: be what is connecting with some of my readers. It's
7:12
Speaker 2: just I think I sound like a person. And so
7:19
Speaker 2: with the with the Zen stuff, you know, Trust was
7:24
Speaker 2: telling me, hey, uh, we want you to you know,
7:28
Speaker 2: write a different column this year. And he asked me
7:32
Speaker 2: what I wanted to do and or what I was
7:36
Speaker 2: interested in doing, and I gave him a list of
7:38
Speaker 2: things that, you know, I thought would work and and
7:41
Speaker 2: he said, okay, we'll do that. And I was like,
7:43
Speaker 2: wait a minute, what are you talking about? Do that?
7:47
Speaker 2: And he said, yeah, write about all that. And so
7:50
Speaker 2: then he asked me what I wanted to name it.
7:52
Speaker 2: And I talked to my wife about it, and I've
7:56
Speaker 2: I've really gotten a great deal in my life life
8:01
Speaker 2: from kind of practicing some of the some of the
8:04
Speaker 2: Buddhist approach. And so she suggested the Zen and the
8:10
Speaker 2: Art of Fantasy Baseball, just because it would be it
8:15
Speaker 2: would be so unique, I think we both felt. And
8:22
Speaker 2: I wasn't sure how Trust would respond to it, but
8:25
Speaker 2: he seemed to like it, and uh so then I
8:30
Speaker 2: was like, oh, crap, I have to write that, you know,
8:35
Speaker 2: I have to come up with like these, these tenants
8:39
Speaker 2: or these you know, these different parts of Buddhist thought
8:44
Speaker 2: that people might actually find appealing one and then two
8:51
Speaker 2: I can possibly relate to baseball. And as I've thought
8:58
Speaker 2: about it, truly, practicing some of the Buddhist stuff has
9:04
Speaker 2: made me a better player because It's just made me
9:10
Speaker 2: so much calmer, and it's allowed me to process things differently,
9:16
Speaker 2: and it's allowed me to be significantly less judgmental of
9:23
Speaker 2: my mistakes. You know, one of the things that that
9:27
Speaker 2: Buddhism really focuses on is the idea that we control
9:30
Speaker 2: our actions, but the consequences are kind of outside of that,
9:35
Speaker 2: and the consequences are ours. We own them, but you know,
9:40
Speaker 2: I can't really control how it all works out. All
9:44
Speaker 2: I can do is respond to it. And that really
9:49
Speaker 2: has helped me in a lot of aspects of my life,
9:53
Speaker 2: including in fantasy. You know, the first couple of years
9:57
Speaker 2: that I tried to play kind of the high stakes stuff,
10:01
Speaker 2: I just got absolutely smoked and thought, you know what
10:06
Speaker 2: am I doing here? But you know, as I as
10:12
Speaker 2: I kind of figured out the higher stakes game, I mean,
10:15
Speaker 2: home games, home leagues and higher stakes, they're just like
10:19
Speaker 2: they're different animals completely, and so once I kind of
10:24
Speaker 2: figured out the different sort of aggressiveness that was required,
10:30
Speaker 2: you know, in places like NFBC, then I started kind
10:36
Speaker 2: of coming to terms with all, Right, I'm gonna lose
10:39
Speaker 2: a lot because because these folks are good, and so
10:46
Speaker 2: I'm trying to enjoy the the successes. And I really
10:53
Speaker 2: think kind of the practice has helped me enjoy the
10:58
Speaker 2: successes in terms of, you know, I'm just enjoying the
11:02
Speaker 2: process so much that if I do lose to these
11:08
Speaker 2: great players, Like right now I'm drafting in an OC
11:11
Speaker 2: and John Posma's in the o C. I mean, he's
11:15
Speaker 2: one of the greatest OC players that there is. So
11:19
Speaker 2: it's like, Okay, well here we go. But I think
11:24
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago that would that would intimidate
11:27
Speaker 2: me a great deal. And now it's just like I
11:32
Speaker 2: just welcome the challenge and enjoy that process. You know,
11:38
Speaker 2: I've I've beaten some good players, so maybe maybe I'll
11:42
Speaker 2: figure it out. I don't know, But uh, the the
11:46
Speaker 2: zen stuff has really helped with kind of slowing everything down,
11:52
Speaker 2: being reflective, not not judging my mistakes, just more like
11:59
Speaker 2: how can I how can I work from you know,
12:02
Speaker 2: this lack of success and what can I learn from it?
12:07
Speaker 2: And where do I go now? You know, I I
12:11
Speaker 2: think those are great just life skills. And uh, you know,
12:16
Speaker 2: fantasy is a lot more life based than I think
12:20
Speaker 2: sometimes we think it is. You know, we get awfully
12:23
Speaker 2: wrapped up in the numbers, But you know, there's there's
12:29
Speaker 2: an art to what we're doing, you know, understanding kind
12:34
Speaker 2: of how players are going to mix into their MLB
12:40
Speaker 2: team that will allow them to provide the types of
12:44
Speaker 2: stats that we're looking for them to provide. You know
12:47
Speaker 2: that that's feel that's not that's not numbers and anyway
12:54
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm I'm kind of rambling on the
12:57
Speaker 2: zen thing.
12:57
Speaker 1: But no, No, it's great. I think a lot of
13:00
Speaker 1: the tenants that have really come through in the pieces
13:03
Speaker 1: and in the work, and you can kind of see
13:05
Speaker 1: a lot of like the thought process that has gone
13:08
Speaker 1: into how you approach the game, because I mean, I
13:11
Speaker 1: think there that's a big component it is. There's an
13:15
Speaker 1: aspect to fantasy baseball that is also pretty similar to
13:18
Speaker 1: like high stakes poker, where you know, there's always a statistical, mathematical,
13:23
Speaker 1: I think answer, but whether or not that's actually the
13:26
Speaker 1: best answer for your game and in that league at
13:28
Speaker 1: that moment is a different question. So, like there's all
13:32
Speaker 1: sorts of aspects where not only do you have to
13:36
Speaker 1: negotiate with other players in your league, especially if you
13:38
Speaker 1: have trades, you can you have to kind of read
13:41
Speaker 1: minds because if you've also got fab leagues. You know,
13:45
Speaker 1: like do certain players prefer certain teams, do they prefer
13:51
Speaker 1: certain types of profiles?
13:53
Speaker 2: Overall?
13:54
Speaker 1: Do they how do they spend their money. There's a
13:57
Speaker 1: lot of factors that go into that. But then also
14:00
Speaker 1: I think what has kind of like been highlighted to
14:03
Speaker 1: me from your piece compared to stuff that I've seen
14:07
Speaker 1: across the board on you know, just the the columns
14:11
Speaker 1: that are out there, is that there's also a portion
14:15
Speaker 1: of like your own self control of your own mental
14:18
Speaker 1: aspect to be able to focus on what kind of
14:22
Speaker 1: makes you successful and gets you into the game, because
14:25
Speaker 1: like that's I mean, maybe you also self quality at
14:29
Speaker 1: the same time, like the way that we've always has
14:32
Speaker 1: been searching since the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance.
14:36
Speaker 1: But I think one of the because I read that
14:38
Speaker 1: book just last year for the first time, and one
14:40
Speaker 1: of the takeaways I had was just being able to
14:44
Speaker 1: also like sync yourself into something and being able to
14:48
Speaker 1: understand all the aspects of it allows just a level
14:54
Speaker 1: of clarity of just being a human and just like
14:58
Speaker 1: living the human experience. And I think that's what's been
15:01
Speaker 1: really great is that like fantasy baseball can get a
15:05
Speaker 1: little type cast as a nerdy activity, as something that
15:09
Speaker 1: can be frivolous at the same time. But I think
15:13
Speaker 1: what I've found in terms of reading your work, meeting
15:16
Speaker 1: people at First Put Arizona, all the people that I've
15:19
Speaker 1: had as guests on this podcast, is that the real
15:22
Speaker 1: human connection that Fantasy Baseball creates is really what's most
15:26
Speaker 1: important to my life and what I get from it
15:30
Speaker 1: that it's really huge. So I mean, I think with
15:33
Speaker 1: that though, it also has some strategy impacts for you
15:38
Speaker 1: as well. So I'm wondering as you've been working your
15:40
Speaker 1: way through these pieces, because I've enjoyed also the way
15:43
Speaker 1: that you are kind of like finding your way through
15:47
Speaker 1: it at the same time the way that like zen
15:50
Speaker 1: and the art of motorcycle maintenance works. What kind of
15:53
Speaker 1: takeaways have you had as you've gotten into twenty twenty
15:56
Speaker 1: six prep writing these pieces that have like been in
16:00
Speaker 1: light bulb moments or things that you maybe also want
16:02
Speaker 1: to highlights, like, Hey, this is something that I want
16:05
Speaker 1: to dive into deeper as we get into in twenty
16:07
Speaker 1: twenty six.
16:10
Speaker 2: I thought that's a good question. One of the things
16:13
Speaker 2: that that I think it's it's helped me do is
16:16
Speaker 2: understand FAB a little differently and not be so intimidated
16:24
Speaker 2: by it that you know, FAB is a hard process
16:28
Speaker 2: because you're you're having to guess what what people are
16:32
Speaker 2: going to bid, and you know, in a in a
16:36
Speaker 2: league like an O C league, you have no idea
16:41
Speaker 2: people will did anything, you know, and if you are
16:45
Speaker 2: in in one of the higher leagues, like a main event,
16:48
Speaker 2: it's pretty it's pretty disciplined, but it is it's not
16:53
Speaker 2: in a lot of games, and you know that would
16:57
Speaker 2: that would just drive me so crazy, like how I
17:01
Speaker 2: can't figure out what this person is going to do here?
17:07
Speaker 2: And like you said, with Zen and the art of
17:11
Speaker 2: motorcycle maintenance, there is such a focus on being deeply
17:19
Speaker 2: present in the moment of whatever you're doing, and being
17:24
Speaker 2: deeply present in the you know, in fixing the motorcycle
17:29
Speaker 2: or in the in the archery. And I have found
17:35
Speaker 2: that that is is a is a really great aspect
17:38
Speaker 2: of it for fantasy because it calms me down and
17:44
Speaker 2: just makes me focus on what is the segment of
17:50
Speaker 2: this that I'm trying to address right now, you know,
17:55
Speaker 2: And and it it sort of quiets the noise around
17:59
Speaker 2: it where I'm not as worried about all the little
18:05
Speaker 2: things that might happen, because all I can really do
18:09
Speaker 2: is is do the thing that I understand, and you know,
18:16
Speaker 2: I'll do it the best I understand it and see
18:19
Speaker 2: what happens, and if it doesn't work, okay, well then
18:22
Speaker 2: I'll try to understand it better next time. So that's
18:27
Speaker 2: that's helped me get a better sense of like not
18:32
Speaker 2: worrying so much about predicting what my opponent's going to do,
18:36
Speaker 2: but just understanding what I'm going to do if my
18:40
Speaker 2: opponent does X, Y Z or something else. You know,
18:47
Speaker 2: didn't didn't auction the other night, and you know, auction
18:52
Speaker 2: is is like fab exponentially, you know, because you just
18:58
Speaker 2: have no idea what people are looking for and how
19:02
Speaker 2: much they're willing to spend on a given player. And
19:05
Speaker 2: you know, I had you have guys that you want,
19:09
Speaker 2: and then you know, it just like falls apart in
19:11
Speaker 2: front of you, and you know that it's pretty easy
19:16
Speaker 2: to go on tilt if if something like that happens.
19:21
Speaker 2: But if with with the Zen approach there, it's very
19:26
Speaker 2: much like, Okay, I can't control what's going to happen,
19:30
Speaker 2: but I can sort of prepare for different contingencies that
19:36
Speaker 2: will come up, and then I find that I'm just
19:40
Speaker 2: a lot calmer in responding to the need for the
19:44
Speaker 2: contingency then I was a few years ago before this
19:49
Speaker 2: became a part of my life.
19:51
Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, that's good to that. I think that's a
19:55
Speaker 1: great overview, and I think it's also like, I can't
19:58
Speaker 1: endorse your pieces enough that I think they've been really
20:00
Speaker 1: fantastic and I'm looking forward to where they go for
20:03
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. Now that we've heard enough
20:06
Speaker 1: of the theory, though, I think you want to dive
20:08
Speaker 1: into some players then get into some actual nuts and
20:11
Speaker 1: bolts applications. So based on some of this, like as
20:15
Speaker 1: you've been using this kind of mindset to analyze different
20:19
Speaker 1: players and especially highlight different ones that you might be
20:23
Speaker 1: wanting to build a strategy around going forward into twenty
20:28
Speaker 1: twenty six, give me a couple of names that really
20:31
Speaker 1: have stood out to you as being players that you
20:34
Speaker 1: are focusing on and want a roster going into this year.
20:41
Speaker 2: While there are so many, I think the guy that
20:47
Speaker 2: I've really been interested in that I just don't understand
20:51
Speaker 2: why the market is off of him is Brenton Doyle.
20:58
Speaker 2: I love his thirty thirty upside. I love that he
21:05
Speaker 2: is going to bat, And yeah, the lineup sucks, it's Colorado,
21:10
Speaker 2: but but he is the guy in that lineup, and
21:18
Speaker 2: and there's something about being the guy. Last year, he
21:22
Speaker 2: went through a tragedy, you know, And and as a parent,
21:26
Speaker 2: I can like I can understand, like I would not
21:30
Speaker 2: want to play baseball. You know, I would probably think
21:33
Speaker 2: I would, but you know, you can't possibly focus on
21:37
Speaker 2: it when he and his wife went through what they
21:40
Speaker 2: went through. So you know, I think that is why
21:44
Speaker 2: he had a bad season. I mean, it just comes
21:47
Speaker 2: right down to that. And as as I listened to
21:52
Speaker 2: the beat writers and read the beat writers out of Colorado,
21:57
Speaker 2: they're talking about like he's he's himself, he's he's locked
22:01
Speaker 2: into who he has been, and I just I just
22:07
Speaker 2: don't see him having the kind of inconsistent season and
22:11
Speaker 2: slow start that he had last year. I think he's
22:14
Speaker 2: a steal and so I'm finding that I need to
22:19
Speaker 2: stop drafting him because I have him everywhere.
22:23
Speaker 1: So yeah, I hear you. Yeah, I mean I think
22:26
Speaker 1: this is a great pick too. We haven't gotten into
22:28
Speaker 1: our NL West preview yet, but I mean I think
22:31
Speaker 1: he's going to be well. Part of the problem too
22:33
Speaker 1: is I'm a little bit of like a Colin Rattle Rockies,
22:36
Speaker 1: like just like totally like out of left field freak
22:42
Speaker 1: for them in fancy baseball, especially when you're in daily league.
22:45
Speaker 1: So I've got a lot of buys on that team.
22:47
Speaker 1: But Doyle I think is up there because I mean
22:50
Speaker 1: you can see it too that like the shape of
22:53
Speaker 1: his season really followed the tragedy that happened in his
22:57
Speaker 1: life in terms of losing his child, and so like
23:02
Speaker 1: you can see where like he was doing all right
23:05
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the season, he was also battling
23:07
Speaker 1: injuries too that happened the tragedy happened. He really fell
23:11
Speaker 1: off a cliff, and then things started turning around a
23:13
Speaker 1: little bit more towards the end of the season, as
23:15
Speaker 1: you know, he started getting back into it. But even
23:18
Speaker 1: with all that, he still put up a two thirty
23:22
Speaker 1: three average with fifteen homer's, eighteen stolen bases, and he
23:25
Speaker 1: played and it's gold glove defense. So there's just a
23:30
Speaker 1: lot of check marks that I love in terms of
23:32
Speaker 1: this profile between like on the field all the time,
23:35
Speaker 1: plays half his games in Colorado. I think this is
23:39
Speaker 1: a great call out and if anything, like the other
23:41
Speaker 1: thing too, is that this is a player where because
23:45
Speaker 1: he only hit two thirty three last year, the projections
23:49
Speaker 1: really don't know the backstory behind that two thirty three.
23:53
Speaker 1: And you can see it that right, they are not
23:56
Speaker 1: pushing him that far towards his two sixty average. They
23:59
Speaker 1: put in twenty twenty four. If you just pencil that
24:02
Speaker 1: back in, he jumps a couple of rounds for you probably,
24:05
Speaker 1: so it's a great caught.
24:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's he's one of those guys. But you're always
24:10
Speaker 2: looking for where where do you think projections might be wrong?
24:15
Speaker 2: Because you know, let's face it, the projection systems are
24:18
Speaker 2: smarter than I am, But like you said, they can't
24:21
Speaker 2: they can't go to the personal side and understand what
24:25
Speaker 2: he was going through. And you know, I don't see
24:29
Speaker 2: any reason that he's not going to hit two fifty
24:32
Speaker 2: or above easily. I don't see any reason that he's
24:36
Speaker 2: not going to hit twenty five homers. I don't see
24:40
Speaker 2: any reason that he's not going to steal thirty bases,
24:42
Speaker 2: especially if you've been paying attention to Colorado and the
24:47
Speaker 2: spring they're running more so, like they've they've made a decision,
24:51
Speaker 2: and you know, the studies have told us that that
24:55
Speaker 2: is actually predictive. If they're running in the spring, then
24:59
Speaker 2: they're more likely to run in the season. And god,
25:02
Speaker 2: how else is Colorado going to score? So they got
25:05
Speaker 2: to do something. But yeah, I think he is going
25:11
Speaker 2: to have a really nice season. And if you're in
25:14
Speaker 2: a draft with me, just watch out.
25:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
25:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:18
Speaker 1: And I think on top of it too, it's not
25:21
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not like the best savant page, but
25:23
Speaker 1: it's like not one of those savant pages where you're like, oh,
25:26
Speaker 1: this is going to fall apart fast. You know, he
25:28
Speaker 1: has a good barrel rate. He hits the ball pretty hard,
25:31
Speaker 1: and so like it's gonna play, especially when you're on
25:35
Speaker 1: the field one hundred and fifty plus times because of
25:37
Speaker 1: the center field defense. What about on top of the mound?
25:41
Speaker 1: Any pitchers that really stand out to you?
25:44
Speaker 2: So, speaking of NL West, you know, I work on
25:48
Speaker 2: NLS stuff at HQ, and so I feel like I'm
25:54
Speaker 2: paying pretty close attention. And I love Paul Seawood SeaWorld.
26:00
Speaker 2: You know, I really thought Ginkel would be the closer
26:06
Speaker 2: until Sewald was signed out of the blue, and I
26:11
Speaker 2: just don't see him not being the closer when when
26:18
Speaker 2: he has always just sort of been the guy at
26:22
Speaker 2: the end of games for several different franchises. And the
26:27
Speaker 2: last couple of years his stats have been down, but
26:30
Speaker 2: you can also track that through his injuries. And I
26:34
Speaker 2: know there's there's absolutely legitimate concern that he is declining
26:40
Speaker 2: due to age, but you know, the the decline over
26:45
Speaker 2: the last couple of years has been so closely related
26:49
Speaker 2: to different upper body injuries that he's had that I
26:53
Speaker 2: feel like there's a really good shot that he is
26:57
Speaker 2: going to spike this year. And I mean, he he
27:00
Speaker 2: costs nothing, nothing, you know, they're like he still has
27:07
Speaker 2: an a DP and and some of the like draft
27:10
Speaker 2: and holds in the like six hundreds. You know, it's
27:14
Speaker 2: it's insane, you know. I feel I feel crazy when
27:18
Speaker 2: I when I draft him like three forty and think, Okay,
27:22
Speaker 2: well people are just gonna think I'm nuts, But oh well,
27:25
Speaker 2: you know it's ah. I really I really like his opportunity,
27:31
Speaker 2: you know, I really, I really like the closer options
27:37
Speaker 2: in San Francisco behind Ryan Walker. You know, I think that, uh,
27:42
Speaker 2: I think that Walker is kind of on thin ice
27:44
Speaker 2: with his inconsistency and you know Tony Vtello, I don't.
27:51
Speaker 2: I don't know much about him, but like he's going
27:54
Speaker 2: to feel the pressure to win. Yeah, I think so
27:57
Speaker 2: if Walker is not, if he's not able to throw strikes,
28:02
Speaker 2: which is a big problem for him, then we're going
28:04
Speaker 2: to somebody else. And and there are two guys there,
28:08
Speaker 2: Paguero and Blade Tidwell. They they have stuff. And while
28:17
Speaker 2: Paguero has not been a strikeout pitcher, he has the
28:20
Speaker 2: stuff to be one. And and I think as his
28:25
Speaker 2: velocity is increasing a little bit, he's getting more experience
28:28
Speaker 2: in the league. I think he looks good there. And
28:31
Speaker 2: Blade Tidwell, his strikeout rate and the majors has not
28:35
Speaker 2: been good, but if you go back to his minors stuff,
28:38
Speaker 2: he's you know, ten eleven k's for nine and you
28:44
Speaker 2: know their reports out of camp that he's hitting one
28:47
Speaker 2: hundred miles an hour, and so okay, you know, if
28:53
Speaker 2: he's certainly on my on my radar, then.
28:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think those are both great arms.
29:00
Speaker 1: And don't also forget they false they've got Gregory Santos
29:04
Speaker 1: hanging around too, who is a flamethrower, was a closer
29:09
Speaker 1: for a wee bit on the twenty twenty three Chicago
29:12
Speaker 1: White Sox, but has battled injuries for the Mariners the
29:16
Speaker 1: past couple of years. And I think this is a
29:19
Speaker 1: great point that like not only that, like there's a
29:22
Speaker 1: lot of arms that are intriguing in that Giants just
29:27
Speaker 1: system overall that I agree, I don't know how Ryan
29:32
Speaker 1: Walker can maybe hold that job down the entire year
29:34
Speaker 1: because there's just a lot of talent behind him. And
29:38
Speaker 1: if there's anything that, like Buster Posey did take over
29:41
Speaker 1: from the previous regime, is that, like there's a lot
29:44
Speaker 1: of interesting arms in this system. And I think it
29:48
Speaker 1: is gonna be like a kid in a candy store
29:51
Speaker 1: for Tony Vaitello to like mix and match all these
29:55
Speaker 1: different types of velocities and armslots and pitches and just
30:00
Speaker 1: what he can do. I think with the bullpen will
30:02
Speaker 1: be where he can show what he can bring to
30:07
Speaker 1: the game from the college level, I think in terms
30:10
Speaker 1: of that mix and match and kind of trying to
30:13
Speaker 1: put things together to move towards the pursuit of winning
30:17
Speaker 1: as opposed to maybe trying to anoint a closer and
30:22
Speaker 1: stroke some egos there. So I think those are both
30:25
Speaker 1: great calls. The Seawald one too, like its slipped into
30:29
Speaker 1: the radar, I think because like when you go back
30:33
Speaker 1: to when that signing happened, there isn't like a big
30:35
Speaker 1: post on it. It will be trade rumors. It just kind
30:38
Speaker 1: of happened, and it was an awful bullpen like It's
30:40
Speaker 1: almost like the flip side of Ryan Walker, where it's like,
30:44
Speaker 1: I don't know who takes the job from ball Seatwald
30:46
Speaker 1: when you look around. So Frank went down justin Martinez
30:51
Speaker 1: isn't going to be back soon. AJ Puck could be back,
30:54
Speaker 1: but I mean we've never seen AJ Puck put together
30:58
Speaker 1: for an extended stretch of being healthy, so Seawald could
31:02
Speaker 1: just be the last man standing there in Arizona. But
31:04
Speaker 1: I think those are both both great calls.
31:07
Speaker 2: Puck certainly has the stuff if he learns to use
31:12
Speaker 2: it at the end of the game, and he seems
31:15
Speaker 2: pretty confident he's going to be back sooner rather than later.
31:19
Speaker 2: I think that they Yeah, of course he was talking
31:24
Speaker 2: about being back at March. I'm like, dude, come on.
31:28
Speaker 1: That's nuts. But that great surgery in June of last.
31:32
Speaker 2: Year, Yeah, exactly, And I think that's why Arizona put
31:36
Speaker 2: him on the sixty day just to get him to
31:38
Speaker 2: shut up and calm down so that they don't have
31:43
Speaker 2: to worry about him, like, you know, pushing himself too hard.
31:47
Speaker 2: So I really think though, when his sixty days are up,
31:51
Speaker 2: you know, which will be just before June, I think
31:55
Speaker 2: he's ready to go. Yeah, and he is the only
32:00
Speaker 2: guy that I can see in that pen who might
32:03
Speaker 2: take the job from from Seoul. But you're right, like
32:08
Speaker 2: it was, it was such an understated signing, and even
32:14
Speaker 2: Lavolo himself said, you know, I don't think he's gonna close,
32:19
Speaker 2: but I'm open to the possibility.
32:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know, yeah, yeah, exactly, Yeah, always leaving
32:26
Speaker 1: himself away out because it is interesting as compared to
32:29
Speaker 1: like I mean, I mean, this is actually a good segue.
32:33
Speaker 1: I've got the rundown in front of me because like,
32:36
Speaker 1: h not to pull the cover over, like out from
32:42
Speaker 1: underneath everybody. But I can see what names we're going
32:45
Speaker 1: to talk about the opposites happening in Detroit where they
32:48
Speaker 1: have anointed Kenley Jansen. Let's get to the flip side
32:51
Speaker 1: where some of the guys that maybe are fading a
32:54
Speaker 1: little bit. This is one that you had brought up
32:56
Speaker 1: of Kenley Jansen in Detroit. Even with that that anointing
33:00
Speaker 1: from a J. Hinch there on the Tigers, that doesn't
33:04
Speaker 1: help you out. Or is there some other factor within
33:07
Speaker 1: the Kenley Jansen experience that is scaring you away from
33:10
Speaker 1: him coming into twenty twenty six.
33:13
Speaker 2: It's it's more that I think he has the job,
33:17
Speaker 2: you know. I think that him signing when he's twenty
33:21
Speaker 2: six saves away from five hundred. There's got to be
33:24
Speaker 2: a promise that, like, you're going to get the chance
33:28
Speaker 2: to do this. And it wasn't long before Hinch, you know,
33:32
Speaker 2: he stopped, he stopped with the manager speak and he said, yeah,
33:36
Speaker 2: this it's gonna He's gonna have the first shot. But
33:41
Speaker 2: his his decline the last couple of years has been fast,
33:46
Speaker 2: and even though he had a really good season last year,
33:51
Speaker 2: nothing under the hood says that he can repeat really
33:56
Speaker 2: any of it. You know, he he's just not missing
34:01
Speaker 2: bats at all. I think last year he had just
34:07
Speaker 2: some insane strand percentage something. I want to say, it
34:11
Speaker 2: was like eighty five ninety Okay, I'm actually not looking
34:18
Speaker 2: at the stats right now, and and I mean, you
34:24
Speaker 2: can't maintain eighty five percent strand rating, especially if you
34:29
Speaker 2: can't strike people out. It's just it's just not going
34:33
Speaker 2: to happen. I think Vest is not like a huge
34:38
Speaker 2: k pitcher, but I think he does have the ability
34:42
Speaker 2: to miss bats when he needs to. And I think
34:45
Speaker 2: he's I think he's an underrated pitcher overall, and so
34:50
Speaker 2: I really like Vest maybe you know, sneaking into that
34:54
Speaker 2: role at some point. And of course they have what's
34:59
Speaker 2: his name, Finnegan. You know, Finnigan has a way of
35:03
Speaker 2: just getting saves, even though he's not very good at it,
35:06
Speaker 2: but he just he just gets them. You know, I
35:10
Speaker 2: don't think Hinch is going to turn to Finnigan first.
35:13
Speaker 2: But they paid the dude for a reason. I mean,
35:15
Speaker 2: they gave him, you know, for a reliever who no
35:19
Speaker 2: one really believes in, they gave him a decent contract.
35:23
Speaker 2: So I think I think Kenley is is probably needing
35:28
Speaker 2: to look over his shoulder a little bit if he's
35:30
Speaker 2: not good. I don't think Detroit's going to give him
35:33
Speaker 2: long because, you know, especially they just got fram Orvaldez,
35:37
Speaker 2: they think that they're going to compete this year, and
35:42
Speaker 2: you know, the Detroit fan base, for good reason, was
35:47
Speaker 2: like freaking out and angry that they're not going to
35:51
Speaker 2: spend money and they're just gonna let Google walk and
35:54
Speaker 2: you know, so like Detroit had to come in and
35:57
Speaker 2: say no, we're going to do something. And so when
36:00
Speaker 2: they went and got Framber, I was like, Kenley, goodbye,
36:05
Speaker 2: You're not going to stay there.
36:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it depends on I think if he
36:09
Speaker 1: can keep the Lucky Street going, and it's going to
36:11
Speaker 1: be very league dependent on the price. But I think
36:15
Speaker 1: especially if you're in like a draft and hold or
36:17
Speaker 1: a DC situation or anything where it's a long term,
36:22
Speaker 1: season long hold on Kenley, it's probably too much risk
36:25
Speaker 1: because last year was a lot of luck. A one
36:28
Speaker 1: ninety five babup in front of one of the worst
36:31
Speaker 1: defenses that we've kind of seen in recent years out
36:34
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles with the Angels. So there was all
36:38
Speaker 1: and it wasn't like a crazy pop up rate. I
36:40
Speaker 1: was looking at that too. I was like, maybe he
36:41
Speaker 1: was just inducing tons of pop ups. Actually it was
36:44
Speaker 1: not anything special in terms of a pop up brate.
36:47
Speaker 1: So just a lot of easy five balls. And you
36:49
Speaker 1: can do that when you throw sixty innings as a reliever.
36:52
Speaker 1: You can skate by like that. So I think that's a.
36:55
Speaker 2: Great well in Detroit. S enfield defense is nothing to
36:58
Speaker 2: get excited about, So that's true. You know, this is
37:02
Speaker 2: I don't think this was an ideal place for him
37:06
Speaker 2: to go, except maybe the ballpark. You know, it's a
37:09
Speaker 2: great fit for his kind of game, but the infield
37:13
Speaker 2: is bad.
37:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that's a little end.
37:17
Speaker 2: So I I just don't see that going. Well. I
37:20
Speaker 2: hope it does. I like him, you know, he seems
37:24
Speaker 2: like a good human and you know, twenty six away
37:28
Speaker 2: from five hundred, that's cool, So I'd love for him
37:31
Speaker 2: to get it. But you know, fantasy is not about
37:36
Speaker 2: like hoping, it's it's about you know what, what do
37:40
Speaker 2: I think the probability tells me? And I don't like
37:43
Speaker 2: his probability very much.
37:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hear you. What about some probabilities you don't
37:48
Speaker 1: like on the hitter side, any bats that you're fading
37:52
Speaker 1: a little bit compared to current draft costs.
37:56
Speaker 2: So I don't let me think I don't like Cal
38:03
Speaker 2: Rawley or or Nick Kurtz. You know, they're both getting
38:09
Speaker 2: drafted in about the same place. And I said that wrong.
38:12
Speaker 2: I love both guys, you know, especially you know, big number.
38:18
Speaker 2: But I I just don't think that at the cost
38:24
Speaker 2: that they're going it makes sense for me to one
38:29
Speaker 2: the the opportunity cost of taking a catcher at the
38:34
Speaker 2: end of the first round or beginning of the second
38:37
Speaker 2: that makes me nervous. Last year I decided, all right,
38:41
Speaker 2: I'm going in on the second round catcher, and boy,
38:45
Speaker 2: that blew up in my face.
38:48
Speaker 1: The William contrast, like pain was felt across the board,
38:52
Speaker 1: and it's also safe.
38:53
Speaker 2: Right right, And I mean, you know he did he
38:57
Speaker 2: did well when he was healthy. You know, it's not
39:01
Speaker 2: really his fault, but there's something about drafting a position
39:05
Speaker 2: that is that much in the line of fire at
39:09
Speaker 2: that cost. You know, if I can get Shay lang
39:14
Speaker 2: Lears forty picks later, fifty picks later, even though he's
39:18
Speaker 2: not the player that Rawley is, he doesn't have the
39:21
Speaker 2: upside that Raleigh does. You know, he has just as
39:25
Speaker 2: much chance of getting hurt as Raleigh, or Raleigh has
39:27
Speaker 2: just as much chance of getting hurt as he does.
39:30
Speaker 2: And I would just rather the opportunity cost at that
39:35
Speaker 2: risk at a lower value. And so like if Raleigh
39:41
Speaker 2: we're going in the I don't know, the late third, Okay,
39:44
Speaker 2: I draft him over and over, but you know, I
39:48
Speaker 2: just I just can't put us, you know, ADP sixteen
39:51
Speaker 2: on him. I just can't do it. And the same
39:55
Speaker 2: goes with Kurtz because his strikeout rate is just frightening.
40:02
Speaker 2: And you know, the if you look at a big
40:08
Speaker 2: time successful rookies look at their second season, it doesn't
40:12
Speaker 2: always look the way that you think it's going to look.
40:16
Speaker 2: You know, the saying is that progression isn't linear, and
40:21
Speaker 2: they definitely show that often in second years. And his
40:26
Speaker 2: inconsistency in the strike zone worries me. When the dude
40:31
Speaker 2: hits it, it's going you know, especially especially out in Sacramento.
40:36
Speaker 2: But you know, I think that pictures will know, hey,
40:43
Speaker 2: he has a hole in his swing, and you know,
40:47
Speaker 2: I'm sure that Sacramento has has worked on it over
40:52
Speaker 2: the all season and tried to cover that hole. But
40:54
Speaker 2: like it's not like Sacramento or you know, the A's
40:59
Speaker 2: or former clund or whatever. It's not like they're coaching
41:03
Speaker 2: and their development is something that people get excited about.
41:08
Speaker 2: So I, you know, I think Kurts is going to
41:12
Speaker 2: be great, but I think he's going to go through
41:15
Speaker 2: these long slumps because of his inconsistency with contact. And
41:22
Speaker 2: you know, I just don't want my first or my
41:25
Speaker 2: my turn pick for the first second round to go
41:29
Speaker 2: through a month long slump where I feel like I
41:33
Speaker 2: have to worry about, like do I need to put
41:37
Speaker 2: them on my bench instead of on the field. You know,
41:41
Speaker 2: last year he didn't cost anything, and so you know,
41:44
Speaker 2: when he when he went through the the growing pains
41:48
Speaker 2: for the first month or so, you know, Okay, sit
41:52
Speaker 2: on my bench, not a big deal. I'll see what
41:55
Speaker 2: happens and then when he hit Okay, this is great.
42:00
Speaker 2: But I don't like paying a first second round pick
42:04
Speaker 2: for that kind of guy, especially when you have someone
42:07
Speaker 2: like Kyle Tucker getting picked right there as well, yeah,
42:12
Speaker 2: or dropping yeah, or Vlad you know, getting picked right there.
42:19
Speaker 2: You know, those guys I think I think they're both
42:23
Speaker 2: a little under price, especially Tucker. I just don't understand
42:28
Speaker 2: why we decided that he is not going to be
42:31
Speaker 2: good this year. You know, I get that, I get
42:34
Speaker 2: that he was injured, but it was it was a fracture.
42:38
Speaker 2: You know, It's not like he unless he has developed
42:43
Speaker 2: brittle bone disease or something. I'm not super concerned about
42:47
Speaker 2: the fact that he's had fractures in back to back
42:50
Speaker 2: years and you know, Houston is is so bad with
42:56
Speaker 2: their medical staff somehow, it's amazing how they misdiagnosed things.
43:02
Speaker 2: And then last year, I don't think Tucker was willing
43:05
Speaker 2: to get out of the lineup because he thought, I'm
43:08
Speaker 2: on the contract year, I have to do this, you know,
43:12
Speaker 2: And I as a Cubs fan, I'm kind of watching
43:14
Speaker 2: it pretty closely, and you know, there was just kind
43:18
Speaker 2: of this resignation in the in the organization like Okay,
43:24
Speaker 2: he's going to be in the lineup, this is just
43:26
Speaker 2: how it is. But he clearly wasn't healthy. And then
43:32
Speaker 2: when he really dropped off in September, he had the
43:34
Speaker 2: calf injury. So the only injury that he's had in
43:39
Speaker 2: the last two years that bothers me at all is
43:41
Speaker 2: the calf entry, which right now he's healthy. He's playing
43:46
Speaker 2: in a in just a stupid lineup in the park.
43:51
Speaker 2: Is a good pat for him. You know, I I
43:57
Speaker 2: last night, I was I was picking just to say,
44:00
Speaker 2: a really good player picked Tucker right behind me at fourteen. No, no, no, no,
44:09
Speaker 2: at eleven, and I was like, Okay, I feel better, yeah,
44:15
Speaker 2: because I just don't understand why Tucker is not going
44:18
Speaker 2: you know, ninth or tenth.
44:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is thirty us change a little bit. I'm
44:24
Speaker 1: looking at the ADP over the past two weeks and
44:27
Speaker 1: he's starting to creep. He's like thirteenth off the board now.
44:32
Speaker 1: So it is happening slowly, but surely. I think part
44:35
Speaker 1: of it too, is as Corbyn Carroll is fading further
44:38
Speaker 1: back and Lindor is fading further back, people I think
44:42
Speaker 1: are recognizing that in Kyle Tucker. But yeah, I think
44:45
Speaker 1: those are all great points on both Raleigh and Kurtz,
44:50
Speaker 1: and especially on Kurtz two. The other thing that I
44:52
Speaker 1: was looking at while you're talking about him is the
44:55
Speaker 1: question is he does certainly have a contact rate that
45:00
Speaker 1: is low, but it's a contact rate that is like
45:03
Speaker 1: the same contact rate as Otani, the same contact rate
45:06
Speaker 1: as Judge. But the difference is it's that hole in
45:09
Speaker 1: the swing that you are talking about, because you can
45:11
Speaker 1: see it. It's just a tick where the zone contact
45:14
Speaker 1: for Kurtz is like four points lower than most of
45:17
Speaker 1: those other guys, where you know when it's in the
45:20
Speaker 1: zone for Judge and Otani it's gone. And so we
45:24
Speaker 1: can see if Kurts can do that, So I do
45:27
Speaker 1: the other thing is, I don't know if he's gonna
45:29
Speaker 1: ever hit to ninety again, just like with that strikeout
45:33
Speaker 1: rate giving you no steals. I love the profile, but
45:36
Speaker 1: it's very it could be a little bit closer to
45:40
Speaker 1: I think, like a Pete Alonzo at the end of
45:42
Speaker 1: the day than it might actually be to like a
45:45
Speaker 1: back end first rounder, because if you don't get that
45:47
Speaker 1: speed and you are risking that batting average a little
45:51
Speaker 1: bit more, it can really hinder you in the long run.
45:54
Speaker 1: That you know. That's why I like Vlager Drewn You're
45:56
Speaker 1: a little bit more than him, because the floor on
45:59
Speaker 1: the batting average is almost like nonexistent like that, it's
46:05
Speaker 1: just all like right in the same band there for
46:07
Speaker 1: Vladimir Grove Junior in terms of that batting average, and
46:10
Speaker 1: it really adds up over six inner plate appearances.
46:13
Speaker 2: Well. He also, of vlad also has the the lineup
46:18
Speaker 2: advantage because you know, Toronto's a much better lineup, so
46:22
Speaker 2: he's going to get driven in much more often. He's
46:25
Speaker 2: going to drive in more people. And yeah, that I
46:29
Speaker 2: am not concerned about lad hitting two ninety. I have
46:34
Speaker 2: no no sense whatsoever that Kurtz is going to hit
46:38
Speaker 2: two ninety or two seventy and you know you mentioned
46:42
Speaker 2: al Yeah, you mentioned Alonzo, which I think is a
46:46
Speaker 2: great calm. Alonzo is a wonderful player, but he costs
46:52
Speaker 2: third round. You know, I'll pay that, you know for
46:58
Speaker 2: for a batting profile, and he's a good hitter, but
47:01
Speaker 2: like because of the way that he is trying to
47:04
Speaker 2: strike the ball, he's going to have periods where he
47:08
Speaker 2: just is off and it's just not working for him.
47:12
Speaker 2: And at third round price, I can do that, but
47:15
Speaker 2: you know, at a first round price, I just don't
47:18
Speaker 2: want a month long, slong.
47:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree. All right, Well with those kind
47:23
Speaker 1: of names that we've called out, and we've covered your
47:26
Speaker 1: work on. Then let's get into a few news, news
47:29
Speaker 1: and notes because the volume has certainly slowed down, which
47:33
Speaker 1: is nice that we don't have tons of signings coming
47:36
Speaker 1: through everybody's handmates. We've survived more handmate injuries that I
47:40
Speaker 1: don't think, I mean, knock on wood, maybe one I
47:43
Speaker 1: just caused one, but we haven't seen any more handmade
47:45
Speaker 1: injuries over the past week that have been super significant
47:49
Speaker 1: for our fantasy pool. So let's get into a couple
47:52
Speaker 1: of the signings. And we've got one injury. I think
47:54
Speaker 1: we want to focus on just because it's going to
47:57
Speaker 1: have quite an impact, I think on a pretty Shello position.
48:00
Speaker 1: But let's the first signing we've got is for your
48:03
Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs. Michael Conforto is coming on board in a
48:06
Speaker 1: minor league deal. And Michael Confordo last year, let's just
48:11
Speaker 1: say it was a bit of a tough act with
48:13
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers as he put up four hundred
48:17
Speaker 1: and six plate appearances of an eighty three WRC plus
48:20
Speaker 1: a one ninety nine three h five three thirty three
48:23
Speaker 1: slash line. Lost his job down the stretch, was not
48:27
Speaker 1: really a part of that playoff squad, only hit twelve homers. Uh,
48:31
Speaker 1: he is way older than it feels like he should be.
48:35
Speaker 1: He's he's thirty two, even though I mean he's been
48:38
Speaker 1: around for a while. But it feels like he was
48:40
Speaker 1: just such a bright spot for the Mets. But like
48:44
Speaker 1: I think this is a little bit of like COVID
48:46
Speaker 1: brain warp happening, where twenty nineteen when he hit those
48:49
Speaker 1: thirty three bombs for the Mets, seems like a lifetime
48:52
Speaker 1: ago from Michael Confordo, But also at the same time
48:55
Speaker 1: seems like it was just last year, So I mean
48:58
Speaker 1: it doesn't look right now like the Cubs have an
49:01
Speaker 1: open spot for a starting gig for Confordo. So he
49:06
Speaker 1: is on the bench also kind of like battling for
49:09
Speaker 1: DH with Moyses by Steros, battling for a bench spot
49:13
Speaker 1: with Chas McCormick. And what do you think Confordo can
49:17
Speaker 1: do with the Cubs? Is this? Do you think there
49:19
Speaker 1: is a window for an opportunity here or is he
49:23
Speaker 1: purely a platoon kind of bench bad at this point
49:26
Speaker 1: in his career.
49:29
Speaker 2: I think he's a flyer, you know the I think
49:34
Speaker 2: we're banking on some pedigree and hoping that that he
49:38
Speaker 2: can he can fall back into the Confordo of twenty nineteen,
49:44
Speaker 2: you know, twenty twenty one kind of that range. You know,
49:49
Speaker 2: what's what's his if you're looking at him, what is
49:52
Speaker 2: his zone contact?
49:55
Speaker 1: Let's see was actually I mean it's been hovered right
50:00
Speaker 1: around eighty five.
50:01
Speaker 2: His entire career. Oh wow, okay, so it's pretty solid.
50:06
Speaker 2: Well that gives me a little hope. I really, like
50:10
Speaker 2: you said, there there is no place in that outfield
50:14
Speaker 2: for him. You know, hap is not going to move
50:17
Speaker 2: off left field. Uh, you know, we're not We're not
50:21
Speaker 2: going to have Pete Crow Armstrong anytime soon. Not playing
50:25
Speaker 2: in center, you know, right field is a little more
50:29
Speaker 2: up for grabs. But like the players are in the lineup,
50:34
Speaker 2: you know, they're they're already in the in the batting order.
50:37
Speaker 2: It's just like who's going to play right field? And
50:41
Speaker 2: are they going to be any good at defense? But Conforto,
50:46
Speaker 2: I I like the signing from a sense of it's
50:49
Speaker 2: a minor league deal. You know, there's nothing that can
50:53
Speaker 2: go wrong with it. You know, if if they decide
50:57
Speaker 2: not to uh pick him up for the Maiden, for
51:02
Speaker 2: the forty man or the twenty six man when the
51:05
Speaker 2: spring is over, they'll just dfam, you know. And he
51:09
Speaker 2: is so I think it's pretty low risk for him
51:13
Speaker 2: as well. And the dude still has power. Yeah. I
51:19
Speaker 2: don't know what happened last year that that caused him
51:24
Speaker 2: to have such problems. I have not done a deep
51:27
Speaker 2: dive into Conforto, and I I definitely remember loving him
51:35
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago and then he you know,
51:37
Speaker 2: just kind of went splat, and you know, I think
51:42
Speaker 2: I think a lot of that was injury related. But
51:45
Speaker 2: you know, thirty two I had no idea. It was
51:48
Speaker 2: thirty two.
51:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, life comes down for sure. I mean the more
51:53
Speaker 1: I look at this profile, I don't mind the profile.
51:55
Speaker 1: The bat that like, I think he got a bit
51:58
Speaker 1: unlucky last year. Career load two forty seven babbit. The
52:02
Speaker 1: bat speed is still there, seventy seventh percentile on the
52:05
Speaker 1: bat speed, good discipline at the plate, good power. Like
52:09
Speaker 1: you said, I think maybe the Los Angeles Dodgers of
52:14
Speaker 1: it all ate him alive a little bit from a
52:15
Speaker 1: mental perspective. The defense was awful, Like I think that
52:19
Speaker 1: was part of it. Is like they really did need
52:22
Speaker 1: him in the outfield and it just didn't work out.
52:25
Speaker 1: That you know, maybe this fresh start in Chicago gives
52:28
Speaker 1: him a chance. It's also it is strange the history
52:33
Speaker 1: of the Cubs not believing Moyses Biasteros kind of continues
52:36
Speaker 1: here with this Confordo signing when they didn't really need
52:39
Speaker 1: him that. You know, Biasteros should you think take control
52:43
Speaker 1: of that DH spot. But I'm putting a star next
52:46
Speaker 1: to Confordo for sure. I think going forward, and I
52:48
Speaker 1: think if any injury happens to that outfield in Chicago,
52:52
Speaker 1: that you're looking at a player who's going to be
52:55
Speaker 1: a pretty popular waiver wire pickup when that happens, So
52:59
Speaker 1: somebody keep an eye on in.
53:01
Speaker 2: Think, Yeah, I think that's a great call, you know,
53:05
Speaker 2: potential waiver wire. I think Chicago is going to be
53:10
Speaker 2: more committed to Biasaros this year. I think his biggest
53:15
Speaker 2: problem is he's he's just not a good catcher, and.
53:19
Speaker 1: So I can't play first, I don't think either.
53:21
Speaker 2: Right yeah, and and so like you're you're sacrificing a
53:26
Speaker 2: lineup spot that can never be in the field. I
53:31
Speaker 2: think that's I think that's the big problem. You know,
53:34
Speaker 2: Jed Hoyer, he doesn't he doesn't put anybody on the
53:38
Speaker 2: major league squad that isn't going to be like a
53:42
Speaker 2: cost benefit profit. And you know it's because that that
53:49
Speaker 2: franchise is trying to play everything so close around the
53:53
Speaker 2: edges instead of just spending money. You know, why would
53:58
Speaker 2: we spend money when we're the third big market? That's crazy.
54:01
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And just like own Chicago, you know, I
54:05
Speaker 1: mean all all of this mindset worked out really well
54:08
Speaker 1: for them on Kyle Schwarber, Right.
54:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the same Peterson. Yeah, that was that was
54:16
Speaker 2: a real saving of money when we go with Jock
54:19
Speaker 2: Peterson and and Shoreber is hitting fifty homers every year.
54:24
Speaker 1: So yes, okay, well let's move on to our next
54:27
Speaker 1: transaction because I mean, it's another corner bat, but I
54:31
Speaker 1: think this one's got some juice as well because the
54:33
Speaker 1: Cleveland Guardians have signed Reese Hokins Hoskins to a minor
54:37
Speaker 1: league deal as well. Roster resource has some slated as
54:41
Speaker 1: the everyday first baseman hitting fifth in this rough Cleveland lineup.
54:45
Speaker 1: But I mean they needed this bat that I think
54:48
Speaker 1: they probably had Carlos Santana like earmarked for this, and
54:52
Speaker 1: we're totally like taken aback that the Diamondbacks swept Santana
54:56
Speaker 1: out from underneath them. But Hoskins had a a tough
55:00
Speaker 1: season last year, especially battled some injuries with the Brewers,
55:04
Speaker 1: and then by the time he was working his way back,
55:07
Speaker 1: looked up and the god known as Andrew Vaughn had
55:10
Speaker 1: taken over his spot at the cold corner in Milwaukee.
55:13
Speaker 1: So it was ninety games of a two thirty seven,
55:16
Speaker 1: three thirty two, four sixteen line for Ree to Hoskins
55:20
Speaker 1: one oh nine WRC plus. I mean, it was pretty
55:22
Speaker 1: much the same sort of output that he had put
55:25
Speaker 1: out in twenty four twenty twenty four when he hit
55:27
Speaker 1: twenty six bombs and put up eighty two RBI. So
55:31
Speaker 1: most of the projection systems are probably low on the
55:35
Speaker 1: playing time. Still, the most I'm seeing right now is
55:38
Speaker 1: out of Oopsie and Zips have them both for around
55:42
Speaker 1: one hundred games and three hundred or four hundred and
55:45
Speaker 1: thirty playing appearances, just to tick above a one hundred
55:48
Speaker 1: WRC plus with seventeen homers and like a two twenty
55:51
Speaker 1: ish betting average. You stretch that out to a full season,
55:54
Speaker 1: it's your kind of classic two twenty ish batting average
55:59
Speaker 1: with mid twenties homers for miss Hoskins. Interesting enough of
56:04
Speaker 1: a situation here for you to consider them for a
56:07
Speaker 1: cornering field.
56:07
Speaker 2: Spot, definitely, especially in like a fifteen team. He you know,
56:16
Speaker 2: you you talked through his numbers last year. It's the
56:19
Speaker 2: same guy. He just he just had the periods due
56:23
Speaker 2: to the injury. And then Andrew Vaughan went, you know, ballistic.
56:28
Speaker 2: I love the signing for Cleveland, And you know, Cleveland
56:32
Speaker 2: is also one of those franchises that's just gonna build
56:36
Speaker 2: around the edges. They're not going to spend any money.
56:40
Speaker 2: They have maybe a slightly more legitimate reason for doing that,
56:43
Speaker 2: but you know, Rehys Hoskins for what he is costing them,
56:50
Speaker 2: and you know the level of risk that he's providing,
56:53
Speaker 2: which is none. I agree he's going to be in
56:56
Speaker 2: the middle of that lineup. I think your call of
57:00
Speaker 2: to twenty two thirty with twenty five homers is exactly it.
57:05
Speaker 2: You know, probably a seventy and seventy in terms of
57:08
Speaker 2: runs in RBI. You know he's gonna have Jay ram
57:13
Speaker 2: on Bass all the time to drive in. I love
57:17
Speaker 2: the signing. I think it's great.
57:18
Speaker 1: All right, Well, yeah, there's another Reese Hoskins endorsement out
57:22
Speaker 1: there that it's also like it's in the same vein
57:24
Speaker 1: a little bit of like Josh Bell, where it's like, hey,
57:26
Speaker 1: this isn't like my number one strategy at corner infield,
57:29
Speaker 1: but sometimes you've got to have a corner infielder that
57:31
Speaker 1: will play every day and just kind of post for you.
57:35
Speaker 1: So those are the two signings we've got. We've got
57:38
Speaker 1: one significant injury I want to cover just because I'm
57:42
Speaker 1: I might just be done with this guy at this point.
57:45
Speaker 1: Jordan Westburg, infielder from the Baltimore Orioles third basement is
57:49
Speaker 1: where he was slated to be is now battling a
57:52
Speaker 1: UCL tear in his right elbow. So they haven't necessarily
57:55
Speaker 1: said anything about surgery or anything else in that vein,
58:00
Speaker 1: But I mean, this is a guy too who didn't
58:03
Speaker 1: have a great arm strength last year. Is in the
58:06
Speaker 1: thirty third percentile. Jeff Zubberman at Fangrafts has kind of
58:09
Speaker 1: posted some work recently where I think he's been starting
58:12
Speaker 1: to see a correlation between arm strength and batspeed, and
58:15
Speaker 1: you can see it actually within Westburg, who would be
58:19
Speaker 1: about in the same percentile for bat speed if he
58:21
Speaker 1: had qualified there last year too. So you're looking at
58:24
Speaker 1: a guy who maybe was already injured last year, but
58:27
Speaker 1: has a it's a third basement trying to throw across
58:30
Speaker 1: the diamond with a partial UCL tair. This is actually
58:34
Speaker 1: coming on the heels of he had an oblique strain
58:37
Speaker 1: coming into the spring before. This has been banged up
58:41
Speaker 1: with hamstrings, broken bones, all sorts of nicks and naxon injuries.
58:48
Speaker 1: Another guy this he's twenty seven. Now, that happened in
58:51
Speaker 1: a flash. I think I'm just kind of tired of
58:56
Speaker 1: figuring out what Jordan Westbrook's going to be and when
58:59
Speaker 1: he's going to be healthy, because it hasn't been too often.
59:02
Speaker 1: And on top of it, like third base is so
59:05
Speaker 1: thin right now in terms of the actual player pool.
59:09
Speaker 1: That's usable from a fantasy perspective if you're looking at
59:13
Speaker 1: somebody like Jordan Westburg who's always constantly battling Nixon, Nax,
59:16
Speaker 1: and you've got to be having a backup third basement
59:18
Speaker 1: or go to the waiver wire. It is not a
59:20
Speaker 1: situation where you can craft a league average third baseman
59:25
Speaker 1: out of whatever is left over at after the draft,
59:30
Speaker 1: because you're gonna fall away behind. I think if you
59:32
Speaker 1: have Jordan Westburg, because you're gonna get that production plus
59:37
Speaker 1: a Geo or Schella like player or whatever to round
59:40
Speaker 1: it out for the rest of your year. So am
59:42
Speaker 1: I being too negative with Westburg here or what are
59:45
Speaker 1: your thoughts about him coming in twenty six and maybe
59:48
Speaker 1: even for the future for Dynasty players, because I mean,
59:51
Speaker 1: I think there's lots of people who've been holding on
59:53
Speaker 1: to him and keeper in Dynasty formats, hoping that the
59:57
Speaker 1: big breakout was around the corner for Westburg.
1:00:01
Speaker 2: I think the talent is real, but you know, you
1:00:05
Speaker 2: listed the injuries, and one of the the commonalities for
1:00:09
Speaker 2: most of those injuries is soft tissue, and you know
1:00:14
Speaker 2: that that scares me, you know, And you mentioned that
1:00:18
Speaker 2: he's twenty seven because he's in Baltimore. Baltimore is not
1:00:22
Speaker 2: going to play their young guys anyway, and so you
1:00:25
Speaker 2: know they're they're pushing the clock anyway. And then he
1:00:29
Speaker 2: had the the great half season this, you know, the
1:00:33
Speaker 2: second half of the season where he looked like he
1:00:36
Speaker 2: was God Almighty, and then you know, we have this.
1:00:40
Speaker 2: He he hasn't been back on the field since then,
1:00:42
Speaker 2: you know, just barely. He looks like he has the tools,
1:00:48
Speaker 2: but like, if you can't stay on the field, I
1:00:51
Speaker 2: am not interested. I've picked him. I picked him one
1:00:55
Speaker 2: time early in draft season, and I felt so kind
1:00:59
Speaker 2: of sick to my stomach for doing it that I
1:01:03
Speaker 2: that I ended up backing him up with Korea, okay,
1:01:08
Speaker 2: because I felt like, all right, Korea, assuming he's healthy.
1:01:12
Speaker 2: So maybe it wasn't a great idea, but I figured
1:01:17
Speaker 2: Korea is going to be at the hot corner every
1:01:20
Speaker 2: day for Houston, and so you know, I thought, Okay,
1:01:25
Speaker 2: if Westburg gets injured, here we go, And boy, am
1:01:29
Speaker 2: I glad that I did.
1:01:30
Speaker 1: That, yeah, And I mean you can see he is
1:01:35
Speaker 1: falling fast. So before the injury, he was hovering around
1:01:39
Speaker 1: like pick one hundred. Now over the past two weeks,
1:01:43
Speaker 1: it's like in the two thirty ish range, men of
1:01:46
Speaker 1: ninety three a low of three eighty three, So it's
1:01:50
Speaker 1: all across the board. He's actually in the NFBC draft data.
1:01:54
Speaker 1: He's like neck and neck with Caleb Durbin right now,
1:01:56
Speaker 1: which is kind of nuts. But it also I think
1:02:00
Speaker 1: that also emphasizes what I was saying about third base,
1:02:02
Speaker 1: like the fact that Caleb durban is getting that kind
1:02:05
Speaker 1: of heat for a third baseman, it drops off of
1:02:09
Speaker 1: a cliff, especially if you're in a fifteen teamer. It
1:02:12
Speaker 1: is something that you need to attack early because the
1:02:16
Speaker 1: back end of third base the back end of second
1:02:17
Speaker 1: base are brutal positions.
1:02:21
Speaker 2: If you don't have a third baseman by the time
1:02:23
Speaker 2: mix months, he goes, I just don't know what you're
1:02:27
Speaker 2: gonna do.
1:02:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it is. That is actually probably just about
1:02:32
Speaker 1: the cliff I was looking at, because after that then
1:02:34
Speaker 1: you're starting to get into the bom and corea territory.
1:02:38
Speaker 1: After that, like you've got to count on really cash
1:02:43
Speaker 1: you every day, Brett Batty, Miguel Vargas, it gets pretty groedy.
1:02:46
Speaker 1: So something I think that I've really been hold carrying
1:02:50
Speaker 1: into drafts is like attack second base, attack third base,
1:02:54
Speaker 1: and you can let everything else kind of fall out
1:02:58
Speaker 1: from there. I feel like more than anywhere else.
1:03:01
Speaker 2: So I think Boem actually offers some value. You know,
1:03:06
Speaker 2: he had kind of a down season last year, but
1:03:10
Speaker 2: the guy is just a professional hitter and he's in
1:03:14
Speaker 2: the middle of a lineup that's going to have plenty
1:03:16
Speaker 2: of runs to score. So you know, what is he
1:03:20
Speaker 2: getting drafted like two fifty something like that. It's just
1:03:24
Speaker 2: about I just like he's He's worth more than that.
1:03:29
Speaker 2: So I'm fine picking him at two fifty to get
1:03:34
Speaker 2: just the value. But after that third base, you know,
1:03:40
Speaker 2: I like Brett Baty. He was one of my guys
1:03:43
Speaker 2: that last year when I was writing the middle infield stuff,
1:03:47
Speaker 2: I was on him, you know, just hoping he could
1:03:50
Speaker 2: get some playing time. And I'm still in that same position,
1:03:54
Speaker 2: just hoping he's going to get some playing time. You know,
1:03:56
Speaker 2: I think if he ever gets it, he's going to
1:03:59
Speaker 2: be great. But you know, he's got to be allowed
1:04:02
Speaker 2: on the field, you know, and he's you know, he's
1:04:06
Speaker 2: battling with kind of the same player as as he is,
1:04:10
Speaker 2: and it's just like, Okay, that's gonna be hard. I
1:04:14
Speaker 2: am going to push back a little bit though on
1:04:17
Speaker 2: second base.
1:04:18
Speaker 1: Okay, you're you think it's got some depth.
1:04:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't. I don't think I agree that the
1:04:25
Speaker 2: top is terrible. You know, you know, Marte is a
1:04:30
Speaker 2: great player, but you know, he's another soft tissue guy
1:04:34
Speaker 2: that I get nervous about. And so and then after that,
1:04:40
Speaker 2: which you have terrang which I actually kind of sneaky like.
1:04:44
Speaker 2: I like him because I think I think his his
1:04:48
Speaker 2: power swing is more real than it's not.
1:04:53
Speaker 1: You know, when you.
1:04:54
Speaker 2: Look at just the way he increased his his hard
1:04:57
Speaker 2: hit percentage and his barrel percentench, it was like this
1:05:02
Speaker 2: was clearly intent, you know involved here. So I like him.
1:05:08
Speaker 2: And then they're they're about one hundred picks where I
1:05:11
Speaker 2: don't like second base. But then comes like Auto Lopez,
1:05:17
Speaker 2: you know, and and you know there's Bryson Stott. Right
1:05:21
Speaker 2: before that Auto Lopez, you have Jimenez going like in
1:05:26
Speaker 2: the mid three hundreds, and he was awful last year.
1:05:31
Speaker 2: But I don't think he's an awful player. He's not
1:05:35
Speaker 2: he's not an impact player, but he can steal. And
1:05:39
Speaker 2: I think that Toronto's going to put him near the
1:05:41
Speaker 2: bottom of that lineup. His defense is so strong that
1:05:45
Speaker 2: he's going to pull thirty steals from ap three point fifty.
1:05:50
Speaker 2: I'll take that anytime.
1:05:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it is very possible. I mean, I
1:05:55
Speaker 1: think it is probably it's that one hundred pick gap
1:05:57
Speaker 1: where people start picking the second base and you're just like, eh,
1:06:01
Speaker 1: like oz al Tuve, like Rafella, I like him, but
1:06:05
Speaker 1: like the bad ball data is tough. Ozzy Albi's who
1:06:09
Speaker 1: knows what you're getting? Brandon laugh Like, I do not
1:06:12
Speaker 1: like that park for him. Edwards is a total no like.
1:06:17
Speaker 1: And so it's a lot of that softness Jackson Holidays
1:06:20
Speaker 1: and that range two and McLean I don't know about.
1:06:23
Speaker 1: But what confounds me is right now and the ADP
1:06:27
Speaker 1: data labor Torus is seventeenth off the board, which is
1:06:31
Speaker 1: absurd that like, and that's over just the past two
1:06:36
Speaker 1: weeks that I'm looking at that he's going that late
1:06:40
Speaker 1: still where it's like a lingering portion of people being
1:06:43
Speaker 1: a little unsure about like where he was going to
1:06:45
Speaker 1: settle in free agency. Maybe very very early, but like.
1:06:50
Speaker 2: He's such a great value.
1:06:52
Speaker 1: It's yeah, we covered it in our al Central preview
1:06:55
Speaker 1: that like it's just volume for days with a solid
1:06:59
Speaker 1: dding average and upside still and I.
1:07:02
Speaker 2: Mean there's plenty of evidence that he had some injury
1:07:06
Speaker 2: trouble when he dropped off last year. I just, you know,
1:07:10
Speaker 2: I don't understand why he is going where he is
1:07:13
Speaker 2: at all. Yeah, I agree, you know, and and and
1:07:16
Speaker 2: we're still picking Ozzy Albi's that, you know, the late
1:07:20
Speaker 2: one hundreds. I'll switch that ADP any day. I have
1:07:25
Speaker 2: no interest in all these and I'll take glabor.
1:07:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. And it is when you it's like, because I
1:07:32
Speaker 1: think everybody's so baseball savant pild nowadays too, And it's like,
1:07:36
Speaker 1: how is that happening? When you look at those two
1:07:38
Speaker 1: savant pages too, where exactly has traditionally had one the
1:07:42
Speaker 1: weaker ones, And then you're also layering in the injury
1:07:47
Speaker 1: history there as well.
1:07:48
Speaker 2: I mean, Albi's is is like age related decline waiting
1:07:53
Speaker 2: to happen even before he's old, because he just doesn't
1:07:57
Speaker 2: impact the ball but does And you know, and while
1:08:03
Speaker 2: Camerica is not a great place to hit homers, it's
1:08:06
Speaker 2: a fine place to hit it to the outfield, you know,
1:08:10
Speaker 2: because that outfield is huge, so I cannot understand his price.
1:08:16
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I think that covers us for the
1:08:20
Speaker 1: topics that we want to get through here, Anthony. It's
1:08:22
Speaker 1: been an absolute pleasure having you on cards and categories here.
1:08:26
Speaker 1: Remind everybody once again where they can read your work,
1:08:29
Speaker 1: reach out to you on socials and anything else you
1:08:31
Speaker 1: want to want to plug while you're on.
1:08:34
Speaker 2: Well, Mike, thanks for having me on the show. This
1:08:37
Speaker 2: has been really cool, and I've just enjoyed talking baseball
1:08:41
Speaker 2: and you know, wasting time with you. You can find
1:08:46
Speaker 2: me at Rasball obviously the articles in and the art
1:08:51
Speaker 2: of Fantasy Baseball. Really enjoying writing that. I'm learning a
1:08:55
Speaker 2: lot writing it. It's an experiment. I'm at Baseball ICEQ
1:09:01
Speaker 2: where I do their NL West PT tomorrow and I
1:09:08
Speaker 2: also do some of their gaming and strategy stuff, and
1:09:12
Speaker 2: then I'm around Blue Sky at ad Hamley. Anyway, this
1:09:19
Speaker 2: has been just a delight. Thanks for having me on.
1:09:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks once again for having for carving out this
1:09:25
Speaker 1: time and in joining this pod. It's been fantastic having
1:09:29
Speaker 1: you on and talk about your stuff and just chat
1:09:32
Speaker 1: baseball it's been a really great time. If you want
1:09:36
Speaker 1: to reach the podcast on socials, you can find us
1:09:39
Speaker 1: on Blue Sky at Cards Categories, or you can email
1:09:42
Speaker 1: the pod at Cards Categories at gmail dot com. All
1:09:46
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1:09:49
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1:09:58
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Speaker 1: the best fantasy tool you can get out there, and
1:10:39
Speaker 1: with all that, we're going to wrap it up for
1:10:40
Speaker 1: this week. Thanks everybody for joining us here on cards
1:10:42
Speaker 1: and categories. We'll be back, same time, same place next week.
1:11:00
Speaker 2: Two